India is the largest recipient of loans from the World Bank, amounting to $102.1 billion, between 1945 and 2015 (as on July 21, 2015), according to the Bank’s lending report.

While the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a part of the World Bank group, has lent $52.7 billion, the International Development Association (IDA), a multilateral concessional lender of World Bank, has loaned $49.4 billion to India over the last 70 years.

The Ministry of Finance tabled an updated figure of $103 billion (IBRD—$53 billion and IDA—$50 billion) in a reply to the Lok Sabha (Parliament’s lower house) last month.

India’s loans from the World Bank stand at $104 billion (IBRD—$54 billion and IDA—$50 billion) as on December 31, 2015. Of this, the World Bank has disbursed $73 billion, with India repaying $37 billion.

India received 9% ($2.1 billion) of IBRD commitments, the largest to any country in 2015 and, after Bangladesh, the second-largest ($1.7 billion) in terms of IDA assistance ($1.9 billion).

Water, sanitation and flood projects in India received the most World Bank funding (27%), followed by finance (19%), transportation (18%), education (11%), public administration and law (10%), agriculture (8%), health and social service (4%), information and communication (2%), and energy and mining (1%).

Top Countries: World Bank Commitments, Disbursements And Net Transfers, 2015, By Region

Source: World Bank; Figures in $ billion; Figures as on 21/07/2015; Note: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA).

India received a loan of $3.8 billion in 2015, the largest in the sub-continent, followed by China ($1.8 billion) in East Asia and Pacific, Nigeria ($1.5 billion) in Africa, Ukraine ($1.3 billion) in Europe and Central Asia, Morocco ($1.1 billion) in the Middle East and North Africa and Brazil ($0.6 billion) in Latin America and the Caribbean region.

The undisbursed balance (loan/credit/grant amount still available) from the World Bank for India was $16.6 billion in 2015. Gross disbursements to India in 2015 were $2.7 billion, with India repaying $2.2 billion.

The World Bank and the government of India recently signed a $50-million credit line for Nai Manzil, an educational and skills training programme for minorities, on December 30, 2015. The project size is $100 million (Rs 650crore), of which half will come from the IDA and half from the union budget .

(Mallapur is a policy analyst with IndiaSpend.)

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